Key events
35 min: Angeldal – of Manchester City as well as Sweden – cracks a shot from distance. It’s travelling at a rate of knots but flies over.
Sweden counter almost immediately when England try to get something going and Asllani, the captain, wins a corner after trying a snap shot from around the edge of the box.
33 min: The game has opened up quite a bit. Sweden find space on the counter with Blackstenius again causing a nuisance. Now Bronze and Kaneyrd have both gone down after challenging for an aerial ball in midfield. Thankfully it wasn’t a clash of heads and they’re OK.
30 min: Rolfo slides a smart ball in for Asllani, who is one on one with Earps, albeit at a tight angle. The flag goes up for offside, but on replay, it’s pretty clearly level and it should have been play on. Lucky for England.
30 min: England’s opening goal, via the magic of X.
That is typically stunning work by Lauren James to create the goal. She buys a yard or three of space with some neat footwork out on the England right. Then she chips a beautifully judged cross into the middle, where Russo stoops to conquer, and bravely heads the ball low past Falk in the Sweden goal. It has been a slightly shaky start by England but that will settle the nerves.
24 min: Goal! England 1-0 Sweden (Russo)
It’s there! A quality diving header by Russo from a cross by James.
23 min: England win their first corner. Wubben-Moy drives it into the mixer. But again Sweden are in shape.
Then, Greenwood clips a fine ball into the area for Charles. Lundkvist defends it well when it looks like Charles will have a shot.
21 min: Walsh gives the ball away in midfield and Sweden break with lightning speed. Rolfo has a sight of goal from an angle, and hits a low shot that rolls past the far post. It was a decent effort, but I reckon Earps got her angles right there and had it covered.
20 min: Sweden are advertised as playing a 4-3-3, but it looks more like a front two from where I’m sitting. They are letting England stroke the ball around at the back.
18 min: Greenwood finds Clinton in space in midfield with an insightful pass. Clinton draws a foul. England have settled into this match, after being pushed back in the early skirmishes. But they have yet to cause a major problem for Sweden defensively.
16 min: James, who had not had a sniff before this, makes a good surging run through the middle. She holds the ball up and sprays a curling pass out to the right wing. Again though the visitors are in position to repel the danger.
14 min: England come alive, seemingly all of a sudden, and the crowd does too. Hemp storms down the right wing into space. The noise levels rise but Sweden, who look very well organised all over the pitch, snuff out the danger.
12 min: Clinton is involved again, taking a ball down tidily in an advanced area, turning away from trouble and laying the ball off promptly and accurately. She looks right at home, despite only having played two friendlies for England thus far, in February.
11 min: Clinton is the latest England player to take a kick from a robust challenge. She’s OK though.
10 min: Peter Gerhardsson, the Sweden manager, was getting aerated with the amount of time it took for Russo to be directed off the pitch to continue her treatment. Anyway, no harm done.
8 min: Greenwood launches the cross into the middle. It’s half-cleared to the edge of the box, where Clinton tries a volley. It’s a half-decent contact but it’s always flying wide.
6 min: England’s Russo has gone down injured and needs a fairly lengthy spell of treatment.
4 min: It’s been all Sweden so far. Also lining up in a 4-3-3, they are here to play a bit of footie. They’ve had a corner plus that early chance in the first minute. Defending to do for England.
1 min: Early danger for England from the visitors. A direct ball in behind from the Sweden right is squared by Angeldahl for Blackstenius, who makes contact with an attempted shot around the near post, but it’s blocked by Wubben-Moy, and then ends up in the hands of Earps.
First half kick-off!
The road to Basel. Here we go!
We’ve had the anthems. We’re ready for some association football.
England’s Women, of course, met Sweden in the semi-final of Euro 2022. The Lionesses won 4-0.
If you Google “England Sweden MBM” you get this from 2012, and the men’s friendly that included that mad volley by Zlatan:
And then this:
Kick-off is a mere eight minutes away. Wembley is packed. The pre-match light show, with music and pyrotechnics, has begun.
Wiegman was asked how England are going to stop Sweden.
“How are they going to stop us?” she asked. That’s the spirit.
England’s warm-up shirts include the players’ names in sign language.
Tonight’s warm-up shirts include players’ names, spelt out in BSL, as a celebration of British Sign Language! 👏
Working together with @EE, the shirts are a reminder of how we can work to make football more accessible for all. pic.twitter.com/ySKHWm57QP
— Lionesses (@Lionesses) April 5, 2024
In a pre-recorded interview with ITV, Sarina Wiegman says that not making the Olympics means England can focus fully on the Euros.
With regards to signing a contract through until 2027, she says: “I really enjoy the job. I really enjoy working with my colleagues and the players, and I think we can grow more … I have dreams.”
According to the Uefa website, Stanway will be on the right of midfield for England, with Hemp on the right of the front three.
“Looking forward to a good match tonight,” emails Gordon.
“Re: qualifying setup, it may be complicated but it does away with teams of full-time pro players thrashing minnows, which was of interest to nobody.
“Re: England – Sweden, England team looks unbalanced – who will play on the right? – and Fridolina Rolfo could terrorise the Lionesses on that side.”
That is an excellent point about the structure of qualifying. Aleksander Čeferin, if you are reading this, I am sorry that I took the mickey out of it.
Sophie Downey
As Jess Park glided over the Etihad Stadium turf, taking centre stage for Manchester City in the derby last month, a captivated Sarina Wiegman watched on, the cameras occasionally panning to the delighted England manager in the stands.
It was hard not to be impressed as Park, a lifelong City fan, produced one of the performances of the season. With two goals and an assist, she was the catalyst for the hosts’ win in midfield with a commanding display on and off the ball.
Sarina Wiegman said this week that Leah Williamson would captain the side if she started tonight. But she’s on the bench, so Keira Walsh is captain.
The one change from England’s friendly win against Italy is Lauren James coming into the side, with Chloe Kelly dropping to the bench.
Kelly Simmons
As I stood in Stadium Australia in Sydney last August after the final whistle, pondering England’s World Cup final defeat, I couldn’t help but think that was our one chance to conquer the world and add that illustrious star to our shirt. “Don’t be too disheartened,” people told me, “there will be another chance in four years’ time”, and of course, in football, there is always another opportunity. The Lionesses have a world-class coach in Sarina Wiegman and an exciting blend of experience and youth. But as I watched Spain lift the trophy, I thought this was a side and elite system that could dominate world football for the next decade.
As I mentioned in the preamble, England are not getting ahead of themselves. That said, Lucy Bronze reckons winning back to back European Championships would be a “next-level” achievement:
How does qualifying for Women’s Euro 2025 work?
Simply put, if your group starts with an “A”, then the top two places guarantee qualification. But if you’re one of the lucky ones in the four “A” groups, then even finishing third or fourth will pitch you into the playoffs.
In the “B” and “C” groups, there are no automatic spots, only playoff spots up for grabs. You can get into the nitty-gritty of how the playoffs work on the Uefa website if you wish – which I particularly recommend if you’re struggling to sleep.
Grace Clinton of Tottenham impressed when making her debut during England’s camp in February. And here she is, starting at Wembley.
She was born in Liverpool in 2003 and her career started at Everton – now she’s at Spurs via Manchester United.
Teams
The captain, Leah Williamson, returns on the bench for England after a year-long absence due to an ACL injury. Grace Clinton starts.
England (4-3-3): Earps; Bronze, Wubben-Moy, Greenwood, Charles; Stanway, Walsh (capt.); Clinton; Hemp, Russo, James. Substitutes: Carter, Hampton, Toone, Williamson, Kelly, Mead, Kirby, Daly, Park, Rendell, Morgan, Turner.
Sweden (4-3-3): Falk; Lundkvist, Sembrant, Eriksson, Andersson; Angeldahl, Asllani (capt.), Olme; Kaneyrd, Blackstenius, Rolfo. Substitutes: Musovic, Enblom, Nilden, Janogy, Vinberg, Jakobsson, Kullberg, Kafaji, Anvegard, Bennison, Rybrink, Rubensson.
Referee: Ivana Projkovska
𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐚𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐭 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝!
🏴 – 🇸🇪 | EM-kvalpremiär
🏟️ Wembley
📺 21.00 i SVT1 / SVT Play📱 Missa inte vår liverapportering och chansen att rösta på player of the match i appen Min Fotboll ⤵️
— Svensk Fotboll (@svenskfotboll) April 5, 2024
Preamble
The good thing about losing in sport is there’s usually a chance to make up for it. Does it follow that the bad thing about winning is, annoyingly, there’s always something else to win?
Doubtless that is not the mentality of Sarina Wiegman’s Euro 2022 champions, who narrowly lost a World Cup final against Spain last summer and now turn their attentions to the defence of their European crown.
This evening’s opening Group A3 qualifier against Sweden begins a journey that will potentially end in Basel on 27 July next year, but Wiegman’s players will not be getting ahead of themselves. They are grouped with France and the Republic of Ireland along with the Swedes, with qualification far from a foregone conclusion, so the imminent return of the captain Leah Williamson is a welcome boost.
Could England do it all again? They will need to take one step at a time, and qualify first, beginning with Sweden. Kick-off: 8pm BST
